High stiffness relocatable tower

Abstract

Presented herein are systems, methods, and apparatus related to relocatable tower technologies that facilitate on-site deployment and provide improved stiffness in order to minimize motion at a tower top in a manner that existing approaches, which focus on survivability, do not contemplate. In particular, relocatable tower technologies described herein can be deployed rapidly and at low cost, at outdoor sites, to, e.g., provide a vertical mast upon which equipment can be mounted. In certain embodiments, features of relocatable towers described herein allow the vertical mast to survive and remain rigid while being exposed to outdoor elements, such as wind gusts (e.g., up to 110 Mph). Advantages of relocatable tower technologies described herein are particularly well suited where (e.g., scanning based) imaging and/or detection equipment is mounted at a top of the tower, and/or where towers are deployed at sensitive sites such as hydrocarbon production, storage and processing facilities.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A relocatable and ballast-agnostic tower base for providing a foundation to raise and support a vertical mast, the tower base comprising:
 a base plate for connecting to the vertical mast; 
 a plurality of legs, each leg of the plurality of legs connected to and extending outward from the base plate, toward a corresponding ballast location; and 
 a plurality of ballast adaptors, each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors (i) associated with and connected to a particular leg of the plurality of legs at the corresponding ballast location and (ii) securable to a ballast weight, wherein each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors comprises:
 a ballast rail connectable to a ballast weight; 
 a ballast mount; and 
 a leg mount, 
 wherein:
 the ballast mount is secured to the leg mount and comprises a first passage oriented along a first axis, through which the ballast rail passes, and 
 the leg mount comprises a second passage oriented along a second axis, through which the particular leg with which the particular ballast adaptor is associated passes, 
 thereby securing the ballast rail of the particular ballast adaptor to the particular leg with which it is associated, with the ballast rail aligned along the first axis and the particular leg aligned along the second axis. 
 
 
 
     
     
       2. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein the base plate is shaped to engage the vertical mast, wherein the vertical mast has a polygonal cross section. 
     
     
       3. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of legs comprises three or more legs. 
     
     
       4. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein each of at least a portion of the plurality of legs connects to the base plate in a rotatable fashion. 
     
     
       5. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors is securable to a top of the ballast weight. 
     
     
       6. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors orients the particular leg to which it is connected above the ballast weight. 
     
     
       7. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein the first axis is substantially perpendicular to the second axis. 
     
     
       8. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein, for each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors, the ballast mount of the particular ballast adaptor is situated below the leg mount of the particular ballast adaptor, such that the particular leg, to which the particular ballast adaptor is connected, is located above the ballast rail of the particular ballast adaptor. 
     
     
       9. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein:
 a cross section of the first passage of the ballast mount is sufficiently sized to allow the ballast mount to be translated along at least a portion of a length of the ballast rail; and 
 a cross section of the second passage of the leg mount is sufficiently sized to allow the leg mount to be translated along at least a portion of a length of the particular leg. 
 
     
     
       10. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the ballast mount comprises two or more U-hooks and is secured to the leg mount by connecting the two or more U-hooks with a lower surface of the leg mount. 
 
     
     
       11. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein the leg mount comprises two guides aligned and maintained with respect to each other in a spaced relationship. 
     
     
       12. The tower base of  claim 1 , comprising:
 a kingpost affixed to an underside of the plurality of legs at a central point and extending downward; and 
 for each particular leg of the plurality of legs, a corresponding kingpost stay connecting (i) the particular leg and/or associated ballast adaptor at the corresponding ballast location to (ii) a substantially common central point at an apex of the kingpost. 
 
     
     
       13. The tower base of  claim 12 , wherein for each particular leg of the plurality of legs, the corresponding kingpost stay connects to the particular leg and/or associated ballast adaptor at a guy wire connection point. 
     
     
       14. The tower base of  claim 1 , wherein the base plate comprises a plurality of adjustable couplings, each particular adjustable coupling of the plurality of adjustable couplings matched to a vertical post of the vertical mast and comprising an upper surface for supporting the vertical post to which the particular adjustable coupling is matched. 
     
     
       15. The tower base of  claim 14 , wherein heights of the plurality of adjustable couplings are independently adjustable. 
     
     
       16. The tower base of  claim 14 , wherein a subset of the plurality of adjustable couplings comprises hinged connectors into which their matching vertical posts can be inserted, wherein the hinged connectors are rotatable about a common axis such that a vertical mast connected to the subset of the plurality of adjustable couplings via the hinged connectors can be rotated from a substantially horizontal position to a vertical orientation. 
     
     
       17. The tower base of  claim 1 , further comprising a gin pole and/or a hand winch for raising and/or lowering the vertical mast. 
     
     
       18. The tower base of  claim 5 , wherein one or more spacers are disposed between the ballast rail and the ballast weight. 
     
     
       19. A relocatable tower system comprising:
 a vertical mast comprising a plurality of vertical poles and a plurality of braces connecting each pole with an adjacent pole at a plurality of locations; and 
 a relocatable and ballast-agnostic tower base comprising:
 a base plate for connecting to the vertical mast; 
 a plurality of legs, each leg of the plurality of legs connected to and extending outward from the base plate, toward a corresponding ballast location; and 
 a plurality of ballast adaptors, each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors (i) associated with and connected to a particular leg of the plurality of legs at the corresponding ballast location and (ii) securable to a ballast weight, wherein each particular ballast adaptor of the plurality of ballast adaptors comprises:
 a ballast rail connectable to ballast weight; 
 a ballast mount; and 
 a leg mount, 
 wherein:
 the ballast mount is secured to the leg mount and comprises a first passage oriented along a first axis, through which the ballast rail passes, and 
 the leg mount comprises a second passage oriented along a second axis, through which the particular leg with which the particular ballast adaptor is associated passes, 
 thereby securing the ballast rail of the particular ballast adaptor to the particular leg with which it is associated, with the ballast rail aligned along the first axis and the particular leg aligned along the second axis. 
 
 
 
 
     
     
       20. The relocatable tower system of  claim 19 , wherein the vertical mast does not have a solid outer wall. 
     
     
       21. The relocatable tower system of  claim 19 , wherein the base plate of the tower base is shaped to engage the vertical mast, wherein the vertical mast has a polygonal cross section. 
     
     
       22. The relocatable tower system of  claim 19 , wherein:
 a cross section of the first passage of the ballast mount is sufficiently sized to allow the ballast mount to be translated along at least a portion of a length of the ballast rail; and 
 a cross section of the second passage of the leg mount is sufficiently sized to allow the leg mount to be translated along at least a portion of a length of the leg. 
 
     
     
       23. The relocatable tower system of  claim 19 , comprising an imaging sensor mounted at a top of the vertical mast. 
     
     
       24. A method of deploying a tower system comprising a vertical mast and a tower base comprising a plurality of legs, the method comprising:
 securing a tower base to a plurality of pre-existing ballast weights, each of the pre-existing ballast weights located at a particular ballast location, by:
 connecting, for each particular ballast location, a first end of a corresponding one of the plurality of legs of the tower base to a top of the pre-existing ballast weight via an associated ballast adaptor; and 
 connecting each of the legs to a common base plate of the tower base at a substantially central location with respect to the ballast locations, 
 wherein, for each particular pre-existing ballast weight located at the particular ballast location, the associated ballast adaptor is (i) connected to the first end of the corresponding leg and (ii) securable to the particular pre-existing ballast weight, and wherein each ballast adaptor comprises: 
 a ballast rail connectable to ballast weight; 
 a ballast mount; and 
 a leg mount, 
 wherein:
 the ballast mount is secured to the leg mount and comprises a first passage oriented along a first axis, through which the ballast rail passes, and 
 the leg mount comprises a second passage oriented along a second axis, through which the particular leg with which the particular ballast adaptor is associated passes, 
 thereby securing the ballast rail of the particular ballast adaptor to the particular leg with which it is associated, with the ballast rail aligned along the first axis and the particular leg aligned along the second axis. 
 
 
 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 24 , comprising deploying the tower system without substantially penetrating a ground upon which the tower system is located. 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 24 , wherein none of: (i) the tower base, (ii) the plurality of ballast weights, and (iii) the vertical mast are located at least in part beneath ground level. 
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 24 , comprising deploying the tower system without using heavy machinery. 
     
     
       28. A method of re-deploying a tower system comprising a foldable base, the method comprising:
 (a) adjusting the foldable base to position a plurality of legs thereof in a folded orientation, wherein:
 the foldable base comprises the plurality of legs and a common base plate, 
 each of the plurality of legs is connected to the common base plate at a corresponding connection point about the perimeter of the common base plate, 
 each of at least a portion of the plurality of legs is rotatable in a plane substantially parallel to the common base plate, about its corresponding connection point, and 
 when in the folded orientation, each of the plurality of legs are aligned pointing in a substantially same direction; and 
 
 (b) adjusting the foldable base to position the plurality of legs thereof in an un-folded orientation by rotating each of one or more of the plurality of legs about their corresponding common connection points, such that the plurality of legs point outwards from the common base plate.